Upholstery
Upholstery. In Modern Usage, An Upholsterer Is One Who Supplies Coverings, Cushions, Padding And Stuffing For Chairs, Sofas Or Beds, Or Who Repairs The Same, And More Generally One Who Also Provides Carpets, Curtains And Household Furniture. The Word First Appears As "upholder," Then As "upholdster" Or "upholsterer," That Is, ...
Uppsala Or Upsala
Uppsala Or Upsala, A City Of Sweden, 41 M. N. Of Stockholm. Pop. (1928), 30,198. The Name Originally Belonged To Old Uppsala, Nearly 2 M. N. Of The Present City. This Uppsala, Mentioned In The 9th Century, Was Famous For Its Heathen Temple, Which Gleamed With Gold. Three Huge Grave ...
Ural Mountains
Ural Mountains, A Mountain System Which Extends North To South, From The Arctic Ocean To The Caspian Sea And Separates Europe From Asia. The Urals Have Been Affected By A Series Of Separate Upheavals, Some Having A North To West Strike And Some A North To East. They Reach Their ...
Uralsk Area
Uralsk Area, An Administrative Division Of Russia, Lying Partly In Europe, And Partly In Asia, And Which Should Not Be Confused With The Former Uralsk Province Of Pre-1917 Asiatic Russia, Which Is Now Included In The Kazakstan S.s.r. (q.v.). It Stretches Southwards From The Arctic Ocean To The Kazakstan S.s.r. ...
Uranium
Uranium (symbol U, Atomic Number 92, Atomic Weight 238.2). Pure Uranium Is A Lustrous White Metal Although It May Be Obtained As A Brown Or Black Powder. The Metal Is Malleable, Softer Than Steel And Slightly Paramagnetic. At 13°c. It Has A Density Of 18.685, And Although Its Exact Melting ...
Uranus
Uranus, In Astronomy, The Seventh Major Planet In The Order Of Distance From The Sun, And Denoted By The Symbol 1g. It Was Discovered By Sir William Herschel On March 13, 1781. He Saw It As A Round Nebulous Disc, Slowly Moving Among The Stars, And At First Supposed It ...
Urartu
Urartu, The Assyrian Name For The Country Called Later On Armenia And For Its Inhabitants. It Is Identical With The Country Of Ararat, On One Of Whose Mountains Noah's Ark Stopped, Accord Ing To Genesis, The Name Survives In The Armenian Province Of Ararat And Has Been Transferred To Mount ...
Urban Ii
Urban Ii. (odo Or Otho Or Eudes De Lagary), Pope From March 12, 1088, To July 29, 1099, Was Born Near Reims, Became Archdeacon Of Auxerre, And Later Joined The Congregation Of Cluny, When He Became Sub-prior. He Was Created Cardinal Bishop Of Ostia In 1078 By Gregory Vii., To ...
Urban V
Urban V. (guillaume Grimoard Or Grimaud De Beauvoir), Pope From Oct. 28, 1362, To Dec. 19, 137o, Was Born In 1309 Near Lozere In Languedoc, And Entered The Benedictine Priory Of Chiriac. He Held Many Preferments, And Was Returning From A Mission As Papal Legate To Italy, When He Heard ...
Urban Vi
Urban Vi. (bartolommeo Prignano), Pope From April 8, 1378, To Oct. 15, 1389, Was Born At Naples In 1318. He Was Made Bishop Of Acerenza In 1364, And In 1377 Was Translated To The Archiepiscopal See Of Bari And Placed In Charge Of The Papal Chancery. On The Death Of ...
Urban Viii
Urban Viii. (maffeo Barberini), Pope From 1623 To 1644, Was Born In 1568, Of A Wealthy Florentine Family. He Early Entered The Prelacy, Became Prefect Of Spoleto, Twice Nuncio To France, Cardinal (16°6), And Finally, On Aug. 6, 1623, Succeeded Gregory Xv. As Pope. Urban Accepted The Papacy Chiefly As ...
Urbanization
Urbanization. The Growth Of Cities Has Been Charac Teristic Of Modern Industrial Society, Particularly Since The 18th Century. Since About 1920, However, There Is A Suggestion Of A De Crease In The Rate Of Urban Growth. This Movement From Rural To Urban Places Has Affected The Entire Social Order Of ...
Urbino
Urbino, A City Of The Marches (urvinum Metaurense), Italy. Pop. (1931) : 7,429, Town; 20,371, Commune. It Is Pic Turesquely Situated On An Abrupt Hill 1,480 Ft. Above Sea-level ; Its Streets Are Narrow And Crooked, And The Town Has A Mediaeval As Pect. It Is Dominated By The Ducal ...
Urea Or Carbamide
Urea Or Carbamide, A Colourless Crystalline Substance Known For About 150 Years As A Constituent Of Urine. It Results From The Oxidation Of Certain Nitrogenous Materials—proteins (q.v.)--in The Animal Organism And Is Not Only Present In The Urine Of Higher Animals (mammals) But Also In Their Blood, Bile, Milk, Perspiration ...
Urim
Urim And Thummim, In The Bible. These Descriptive Terms Are Applied To One Of The Methods Of Divination Employed By The Ancient Hebrews, Which, It Is Now Generally Agreed, Con Sisted In A Species Of Sacred Lot. Together With "dreams" And The Prophetic Oracle It Formed The Recognized Channel By ...
Urinary System
Urinary System. The Urinary System In The Fully Developed Human Being Consists Of (i) The Kidneys, (2) The Ureters, (3) The Urinary Bladder, And (4) The Urethra. Wall Of Unstriped Muscle In Several Layers, Which Are Innervated By Branches From The Sacral Nerves. It Has A Peculiar Epithelial Lining Of ...
Urmia
Urmia, A Town In The Province Of Azerbaijan In Persia, On A Plain At An Elevation Of 4,400 Ft., In 34' N., And 45° 4' E., 78 M. From Tabriz. The Population Before The War Was Roughly Estimated At 45,000, Being Mainly Turkish, With Armenian And Nestorian Minorities. The Town ...
Urology
Urology. The Branch Of Medicine—chiefly Surgical—that Deals With Diseases Of The Genito-urinary Organs. Recent Progress In Urology Has Been Due Largely To Improvements In The Cysto Scope, Advances In Radiology, Use Of Diathermy And Close Co-opera Tion Between Urologists, Bacteriologists, And Biochemists. Endo Vesical Instruments Are Now Available From The ...
Ursa Major
Ursa Major ("the Great Bear"), In Astronomy, A Con Stellation Of The Northern Hemisphere, Supposed To Be Referred To In The Old Testament (job Ix. 9, Xxxviii. 22), And Mentioned By Homer, "apicros 0', Ijv Rtai Ci,u4av Kamovrat (il. 18. The Greeks Identified This Constellation With The Nymph Callisto (q.v.) ...
Urticaceae
Urticaceae (nettle Family), In Botany, A Family Of Flow Ering Plants Belonging To The Order Urticales, Which Includes Also Ulmaceae (elm Family), Moraceae (mulberry, Fig, Etc.) And Can Nabaceae (hemp And Hop). It Contains 41 Genera, With About 48o Species, Mainly Tropical, Though Several Species Such As The Com Mon ...
Urticaria
Urticaria, Popularly Known As Nettlerash, Is Characterised By The Appearance On The Skin Of Slightly Raised Red Or White Patches, Varying In Shape And Size, Termed Wheals, Which Develop Suddenly, Persist For A Few Hours, And Then Fade Spontaneously And Completely. The Eruption Is Invariably Accompanied By Sensations Of Itching ...
Uruguay
Uruguay (officially The Oriental Republic Of The Uruguay, And Still Locally Called The Banda Oriental, The "eastern Shore" Of The Uruguay River), The Smallest Independent State In South America. It Lies Between Brazil On The North And The Estuary Of The Rio De La Plata On The South, Extending From ...
Usher
Usher (or Us5her), James (1581-1656), Irish Divine And Archbishop, Was Born In The Parish Of St. Nicholas, Dublin, On Jan. 4, 1581. He Was Sent To A School In Dublin Opened By Two Political Agents Of James Vi. Of Scotland, Who Sought To Secure A Party For James In Ireland ...
Usury
Usury. The Practice Of Lending At Interest Which Exceeds A Lawful Or Reasonable Rate. For An Account Of Professional Money Lenders, Legal Rates Of Interest And Legal Control Over Usurious Transactions, See Money-lending. A Long Legal Development Has Accompanied The Allowance Of Interest Against Defaulting Creditors. By Roman Law The ...
Utah
Utah, Long Called "deseret," Which In The Book Of Mormon Means "land Of The Working Bee," Is One Of The Rocky Mountain States In The Western Part Of The United States. It Is Situated Be Tween And 42° N. And 109° And 114° W. Its Area Is 84,990 Sq.m., Of ...
Utica
Utica, A City Of Central New York, U.s.a., The County Seat Of Oneida County; On The Mohawk River And The State Barge Canal, 85 M. From Albany, With A Municipal Airport. Pop. (1920) 94,156 (20% Foreign-born White, Including 1,376 From Wales) ; And In 1930 It Was 101,740. The City ...
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism, The Form Of Ethical Doctrine Which Teaches That Conduct Is Morally Good According As It Promotes The Greatest Happiness Of The Greatest Number Of People (lat. Utilis, Useful). The Term "utilitarian" Was Noticed By J. S. Mill, In A Novel Of Galt ; But It Was First Suggested By ...
Utility
Utility. In Economics The Utility Of A Good Is Not Con Ceived To Be Its Usefulness, As Judged By Any Objective Standard, But Its Importance To A Consumer. Capacity To Excite Desire Rather Than To Yield Benefits Or Bestow Happiness Is The Measure Of A Good's Utility, In This Technical ...
Utopia
Utopia, An Ideal Commonwealth Whose Inhabitants Exist Under Perfect Conditions. Hence Utopian Is Used To Denote A Visionary Reform, Which Fails To Recognize Defects In Human Na Ture. The Word First Occurs In Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Pub Lished In Latin As De Optimo Reipublicae Statu, Deque Nova Znsula Utopia ...
Utrecht
Utrecht, The Smallest Netherlands Province, Has The Zuider Zee Washing Its Very Short Northern Frontier. The South East Polder Now Being Drained Will Be In Contact With Utrecht (see Netherlands, Impoldering), But Its Present Area Is 526 Sq.m., And With A Population Of 406,960 (193o) It Ranks Third In The ...
Utrecht_2
Utrecht, A City Of Holland, Capital Of The Province Of Utrecht, On The Crooked Rhine, Which Here Divides Into The Old Rhine And The Vecht. Pop. (1930), 154,882. It Is An Important Junction Station 22 M. S.s.e. Of Amsterdam By Rail. It Is A Pic Turesque And Interesting Old Town. ...
Uxmal
Uxmal, The Ruins Of An Ancient Mayan Capital City Of The New Empire About 5o M. S. Of Merida, In Yucatan, Mexico; In 89° 42' W. And 18' N. It Was One Of Those Frontier Mayan Cities That Did Not Rise To Prominence Until Shortly Before A.d. Moo When The ...
Uzbek Or Uzbeg Republic
Uzbek Or Uzbeg Republic, An Administrative Unit Of Russian Central Asia, Created In 1924. Area 186,251 Sq. Kilo.; Pop. (1933) 5,044,30o. Afghanistan Lies To The South, The Turkmen S.s.r. To The West, Kazakstan To The North, And The Kirghiz S.s.r. And The Tajik S.s.r. To The East. It Includes The ...
Vaal
Vaal, A River Of South Africa, Chief Affluent Of The Orange (q.v.). It Rises At An Elevation Of Over 5,00o Ft. Above The Sea In The Drakenberg Mountains, Of The Transvaal, About 170 M. In A Direct Line West Of Delagoa Bay. It Flows In A General S.w. Direc Tion, ...
Vacarescu
Vacarescu, The Name, According To Tradition, Of One Of The Oldest Noble Families In Walachia. The First Member Of Historical Importance Was Ianache (b. 1654), The Grand Treas Urer Of Walachia, Who Was Killed With His Master, Prince Bran Covan In Constantinople, 1714. His Grandson Through His Son Stephan, Also ...
Vacarius
Vacarius (1120–i200?), Italian Civilian And Canonist Of The School Of Bologna, The First Known Teacher Of Roman Law In England, Was Brought To Canterbury, Possibly By Becket, Together With A Supply Of Books Upon The Civil Law, To Act As Counsel (causidicus) To Archbishop Theobald In His Struggle, Which Ended ...
Vaccination
Vaccination, The Term Originally Devised For A Method Of Protective Inoculation Against Smallpox, Consisting In The In Tentional Transference To The Human Being Of The Eruptive Disease Of Cattle Called Cow-pox (vaccinia). The Discovery Of Vaccination Is Due To Dr. Edward Jenner (q.v.), Whose Investigations Were First Published In 1798 ...
Vaccine Therapy
Vaccine Therapy. This Consists In The Introduction Into The Body Of A Suitable Vaccine, In Order To Stimulate The Tissue Cells To Elaborate A Sufficiency Of Specific Antibodies To Resist The Subsequent Invasion Of A Particular Micro-organism ; Or In The Case Of An Already Infected Individual To Prevent The ...
Vacuum
Vacuum, An Empty Space. Strictly Speaking, For A Space To Be A Vacuum It Must Contain No Traces Of Gas Of Any Kind, But Even With The Most Refined Modern Means Of Exhaustion There Will Be A Few Million Million Gas Molecules In A Glass Bulb Five Inches Or So ...
Vacuum Cleaner
Vacuum Cleaner. An Appliance For Extracting And Removing Dust From Fabrics, Such As Carpets, Upholstered Seats, Cushions, Etc., By Suction, Designed For The Primary Purpose Of Carrying Out This Operation Without The Necessity Of Displacing The Articles To Be Cleansed From The Positions Which They Normally Occupy When In Use. ...
Vacuum Pump
Vacuum-pump. This Has An Opposite Effect To An Air Compressor; That Is, It Withdraws Air Instead Of Forcing It In. The Smaller Pumps Are Employed For Scientific Purposes, And For The Exhaustion Of Incandescent Lamp Bulbs And Röntgen Tubes. Large Units Serve Factories Carrying On Certain Chemical Processes, And Making ...
Vagrancy
Vagrancy. The Existing British Law Against Vagrancy Is The Outcome Of Over Three Centuries Of Legislation. Stephen's His Tory Of The Criminal Law, Dealing With Vagrancy As A Criminal Offence, States That "when Serfdom Was Breaking Down And When The Statutes Of Labourers Provided What Might Be Regarded As A ...
Vaishnavites
Vaishnavites (bengal). Chaitanya, The Founder Of The Great Vaishnava Sect Of Bengal, Was The Son Of A High-caste Brahman Of Nadiya, The Famous Bengal Seat Of Sanskrit Learn Ing, Where He Was Born In 1485, Two Years After The Birth Of Martin Luther, The German Reformer. Having Married In Due ...
Valais
Valais, A Canton Of South Switzerland. The Region Is The Old Vallis Poenina (upper Rhone Valley). The Former Spelling, "vallais," Was Officially Replaced (early 19th Century) By "valais." The Modern Canton Includes The Entire Basin Above St. Maurice, But Below This Point It Consists Of The Western Part Only; Its ...
Valdemar I
Valdemar I., King Of Denmark (1131-1182), The Son Of Canute Lavard And The Russian Princess Ingeborg, Was Born A Week After His Father's Murder, And Was Brought Up In The Religious And Relatively Enlightened Household Of Asser Rig, Whose Sons Absalon And Esbjorn Snare, Or "the Swift," Were His Playmates. ...
Valdemar Ii
Valdemar Ii., King Of Denmark (117o-1241), Was The Second Son Of Valdemar I. And Brother Of Canute Vi., Whom He Succeeded On Nov. 12, 1202. Already During His Brother S Life Time, As Duke Of Schleswig, Valdemar Had Successfully Defended Denmark Against German Aggression. In 1201 He Assumed The Offensive, ...
Valdemar Iv
Valdemar Iv., King Of Denmark (c. 1320-1375), Was The Youngest Son Of Christopher Ii. Of Denmark. Valdemar Was Brought Up At The Court Of The German Emperor, Louis Of Bavaria, During Those Miserable Years When Denmark Was Partitioned Among Holstein Counts And German Ritter, While Scania, "the Bread-basket" Of The ...
Valencia
Valencia, The Name Of A Maritime Province Of Eastern Spain, And Anciently Of A Kingdom. Pop. (1930) 1.042,154; Area, 4,150 Sq. Miles. When The Ancient Kingdom Of Valencia Was Incorporated Into Aragon In 1238, It Included The Provinces Of Castellon De La Plana (q.v.) And Alicante (q.v.). It Was Bounded ...
Valencia_2
Valencia, Capital Of The Spanish Province Of Valencia, On The Guadalaviar Or Turia, 3 M. From The Mediterranean Sea, And 304 M. By Rail E.s.e. Of Madrid. Pop. (1877) 143,856; (1930) 320,195. The Earliest Mention Of Valencia (valencia) Is By Livy (epit. Lv.), According To Whom Junius Brutus Settled The ...
Valency
Valency, In Chemistry, Is The Power Which Atoms Possess Of Combining With A Definite Number Of Other Atoms, And Is Us Ually Expressed Numerically By The Number Of Hydrogen Atoms Which An Atom Can Combine With Or Replace. When Towards The Middle Of The 19th Century The Relative Weights Of ...
Valens
Valens, East Roman Emperor From 364 To 378, Owed His Elevation In The 36th Year Of His Age To His Brother, Valen Cinian, Who Chose Him To Be His Associate In The Empire. Valens Had Been Attached To Julian's Bodyguard, But He Did Not Inherit The Military Ability Of His ...